With the holiday season in full swing, it’s easy to forget about the importance of privacy and security in this world of endless digital devices. More and more of our electronics are constantly connected to the Internet through cloud services, providing more and more entry points into our homes for those with nefarious intentions. McAfee reached out to me with some tips on staying secure when using different devices, and they’re good enough to be shared, as they just might help you avoid a privacy-related disaster. Additionally, McAfee is running a sweepstakes where the grand prize winner will receive a trip for two to Iceland. More details on that at the end of this article.

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We are giving away two of the hottest smartphones on the planet right now - the iPhone 7 Plus and the Google Pixel XL! Each winner will get to choose whether they would like a 128GB iPhone 7 Plus, or a 128GB Google Pixel XL, and each winner will also get to choose the color that they'd like to receive. Be sure to subscribe to my YouTube channel to stay up on all the latest tech reviews and gadget giveaways!

Big shout out to Candid for sponsorsing this giveaway - be sure to check out the video I did on Candid and their anonymous social networking app down below.

Enter to win using the Gleam widget below, and good luck to all who enter!

I show you some of the best cases for the iPhone SE from VRS Design in this episode. The company makes a line of cases that keeps your iPhone SE protected, but are also inexpensive enough that they don't break the bank. If you're looking for something that's both stylish and inexpensive, you'll probably want to give these a try. Don't let the price fool you either - these are well-designed, high-quality cases. I focus on four different iPhone SE cases in this video from VRS Design:

In a move that seemed to surprised everyone at today's iPhone 7 event, Nintendo announced that Mario was finally coming to iOS with a new game for the iPhone and iPad - Super Mario Run. The company is touting this as the first Mario game that you can play with one hand, and it'll be available for download in December.

During today's iPhone 7 event, Apple announced that iOS 10 will join watchOS 3 by rolling out to users on September 14th. Apple's latest mobile OS packs a bunch of new features to look forward to, including a more intelligent Siri, much more useful Lock screen, tosn of improvements to iMessage, Apple Music refinements, a new home automation app, and more.

Also coming along in iOS 10 is an overhauled Maps app that pulls in appointments and locations from your email, copy/paste history, calendar, and more.

Star Wars: Galaxy of Heroes, a role-playing game released for mobile platforms last fall, initially struck me as a game I could skip without a second thought. It had the appearance of a cheap cash-in meant to capitalize on the launch of Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens. Although I'm not generally not the sort of person to write off a game for being free-to-play (some of my favorite games don't cost a dime to start playing), there's something about the combination of that business model, mobile, and a major franchise that made me assume it was not worth so much as a download.

Apple is reportedly working on launching a 4-inch iPhone model dubbed the iPhone SE. Similar to what Apple has done with the iPhone 5c version albeit, in this case, with upgraded specs that are akin to the iPhone 6; perhaps higher. This is great news for those that find the bigger smartphones a bit unwieldy but without sacrificing cutting edge specs.

The iPhone SE design is slated to look closer to the iPhone 5s but with tapered edges mimicking the iPhone 6 design. A hybrid of sorts. All the newer bells and whistles will be included such as Apple’s in-house designed silicon A9 processor, M9 co-processor, perhaps all-in-one chip, “Hey Siri”, full Live Photo support, and an improved 8-megapixal iSight camera. Also rumored is Touch ID/Apple Pay features and, of course, upgraded wireless capabilities. Storage will likely be 16GB and 64GB. I must say, you might as well pony up for the 64GB version because 16GB is so 2007.

Mark your calendars for March 21st because it’s that time of year again where Apple reveals all the new cool gear. There’s a high probability that iPhone SE might go on sale as quick as March 25th.

We've come to the end of another year, and as we wave goodbye to 2013, we figured it was only fitting that we share the most popular stories published on Gear Live this year, as determined by our readers (we've also got the top ten most read stories regardless of publish date, as well as the ten most popular Gear Live videos of 2013!) These are the ten stories that were read the most, and when you consider that fact, it's pretty surprising to see what made the list. Let's kick it off with our most read story of the year:

The Philips Hue Go personal wireless light might be the coolest lighting accessory I've ever used. As you can see in the video, it looks like a cereal bowl that's been filled with light that you can carry around with you. You can turn on the natural dynamic effects feature for a living light color show, or set it to one of 16 million different colors of light with a 300 lumen light output. It's controllable with the Hue Light app for iOS and Android, but also has a button on the back that allows you to cycle through a bunch of different colors without the need for a smartphone or tablet.

The only downside is that you do need to have a Philips Hue Starter Kit or Hue Bridge in order to use it to its full potential, so if you don't already have a Hue system set up, that will set you back an extra $50 or so. Still, it's a great lighting accessory.

I bring you my Apple Pencil review in this episode. Apple designed the Apple Pencil alongside the new iPad Pro, to allow artist to draw and sketch on the tablet, but also for everything to be able to write and take notes as well. I am not an artist by any stretch of the imagination, but I was very impressed by what I could accomplish with the iPad Pro once I had the Apple Pencil in my hands.

It gives an immediate sense that you can do more with the iPad, and when you go into an app that is use for image editing or drawing, even someone like me all of a sudden feels capable. It's rare that I get that Apple feeling that a lot of people who aren't technically inclined get. I'm an expert, and know all the features and how they work. With the Apple Pencil though, I definitely felt it - I'd say that I suck at drawing and fail at Photoshop...but with the Apple Pencil, I was empowered to try those activities with surprising results.